Met up with my crew (Trevor, my brother David, my dad David, and Chad) at wapoo landing around 0445 for me and the Reel Explosives last fishing trip before I move up to Jersey this Tuesday. Left the dock at 0500 and headed straight out to the ledge where the warmer water was said to be. Arrived to see 4 boats and what seemed to be 10 sq miles of scattered weeds, which made fishing more of a chore than anything. Dropped lines and trolled for about 2 hours with no fish, about 150lbs of weeds shucked and 50 other boats arriving. Decided to run over to 350ft on the way to the 380 hole. Trolled for about 30 minutes and finally put our first phin in the boat. Picked at them for a while and put a few more in the boat until the action stopped again. Around 1130 the long rigger goes down and nothing, weeds again!! No, wait! That?s a bill!!! He knocked down the long rigger and was now all over the short rigger. Clip pops, ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz! Fish on!!! Great acrobatic show from start to finish. Had another boat near us stop trolling and watch for the 15 minute battle between Sailfish and my brother, who had never caught any type of Billfish before. Got him to the boat and pulled him in for a few pictures. I had a designated picture guy have the camera ready so we could get him back in the water ASAP. Had him in the boat for about 20 seconds and he was revived and successfully released. I wouldn?t usually pull them in the boat but in this particular situation I couldn?t pass up the opportunity. The boat was full of happiness and excitement, especially when my brother realized why he was in the water. “First Billfish Plunge” we said. Headed over to Y73 for some bottom fare and then headed home on smooth seas. We knew this was going to be our last trip in Charleston for at least a few years on my boat, so this was a good cap to fishing in Charleston my entire 29 years of life. Overall, Great day on the water! Thank you Dad for introducing this incredible part of my life!!!
"You never know what ya got until it’s go
